Issue 10, 2017

Controllable synthesis of molybdenum-based electrocatalysts for a hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

In order to explore low-cost, high efficiency, precious metal-free materials for electrochemical water splitting, three types of molybdenum-based compounds (MoO2, MoC and Mo2C) were synthesized by tuning the ratio of glucose and ammonium molybdate via a two-step procedure. TEM images reveal a uniform dispersion of the three molybdenum-based nanoparticles on the carbon support, and in particular, MoC and Mo2C exhibit ultra-small particle sizes which are lower than 3 nm. When used as catalysts for the HER in both acid and basic media, Mo2C exhibits the best catalytic activity with a small overpotential of 135 mV in acid media and 96 mV in alkaline media at a current density of 10 mA cm−2, which is about 105 mV and 30 mV higher than that with Pt/C, respectively. The enhanced catalytic activity of Mo2C could originate from the excellent crystal structure, the high electronic conductivity of the carbon support with a high degree of graphitization and the ultra-small particle size, which provides a large surface area and active sites.

Graphical abstract: Controllable synthesis of molybdenum-based electrocatalysts for a hydrogen evolution reaction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Dec 2016
Accepted
29 Jan 2017
First published
30 Jan 2017

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017,5, 4879-4885

Controllable synthesis of molybdenum-based electrocatalysts for a hydrogen evolution reaction

J. Guo, J. Wang, Z. Wu, W. Lei, J. Zhu, K. Xia and D. Wang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 4879 DOI: 10.1039/C6TA10758C

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